


Ｕｎｅｘｐｅｃｔｅｄ

by SunilNevla



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Hate to Love, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, M/M, Rough Kissing, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26021404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunilNevla/pseuds/SunilNevla
Summary: The group split up into boys and girls so they can follow the fairies that they hope will lead them to Wierdie. When Kai, Adam, and Reeve go to their journey they fall into a hole, which leads them to a dark room. The only way to get out is to solve the riddles but there is a twist... What happens next is unexpected.
Relationships: Adam/Kai (The Hollow), Adam/Kai/Reeve (The Hollow), Adam/Reeve (The Hollow)
Kudos: 29





	1. FANG

The wall crumbles and reveals a secret tunnel. The groups enter the tunnel and discover a fairytale-like scenery that reminds Kai of the books his butler used to read to him when he was a toddler.

Hearing some giggling, they look up to see some pixies, fairies, sprites, or whatever you call them. Kai notices that two of them are carrying Wierdie's scarf while one of them has his sunglasses so they chase the pixies. While chasing the pixies the pixie that was carrying his sunglasses takes a turn to the right and the pair carrying his scarf takes a turn to the left. The team quickly decided to split up into boys and girls.

Mira said that she and Vanessa will go to the left, Reeve disagreed on this because there are more boys than girls and it would be better to for them to chase after the two fairies instead of one. Adam didn't want to waste any more time so he chased the fairy that was going right and Kai followed him so Reeve had no choice but to go to the right.

The boys ran after the pixie hoping that it will lead them to Wierdie, every step they took kept on getting faster in till they took another step into a huge hole on the ground that makes them all fall and land on the ground.

Adam rubbed the back of his head and got up to check if everyone was okay "you guys all, right?". Kai landing face first but he puts a thumb up for reassurance and quickly puts it down. Reeve landed on his butt but then quickly stands up and crosses his arms "Do I look ALL RIGHT?!". Adam rolled his eyes at Reeve, expecting this answer from him6 "You don't have to be so negative about it!" Adam says. Reeve being a pain in the but says "This would have never happened if we took the left one!".

Adam doesn't understand why Reeve is still arguing with him when they just agreed about a moment ago that they would try not to hate each other that much "Like I said you don't have to be so negative about it". Reeve angrily says "Well, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have fallen inside a big hole, now wouldn't we?!".

Reeve is telekinetic but he is no fortune teller, "How would you know?" said Adam. Reeve crossed his arms and was about to say something in till Kai found a door.

"Guys! I found an exit! Kai exclaimed.

Reeve and Adam both went to see Kai's discovery, "Let me open it" said Adam. He tried to open it with all his might but no matter how hard Adam tried to open the door it just didn't budge. Adam has given up "It's locked...".

Reeve, not convinced said "Nuh-uh, you are doing it wrong. Let ME try" only Hercules could open that door and Reeve is not Hercules so not even he could open it and he is not even the strongest of the group.

Kai thought of the last option says "Ooh! Maybe if we say help please then Wierd-" Adam and Reeve blurted it out "No" to him. "We already tried that Kai, No matter how much we say it... he won't come," said Adam hopelessly. "It's useless! We will never get out of here!"Reeve yelled.

But then out of nowhere a voice with no trace of a person besides them, insight says "I'll do you a favor in exchange for a wager."They were all startled but now start to feel relieved that they might have a chance on getting out of here.

"Woah! Where is that coming from?!" said Kai, curious about where they are and who it could be. "So, does that mean that you can open that door?"Adam asked the voice. "If so, what do we have to do in return?" asked Reeve.

The voice answered Reeve's question "Answer the riddles, it doesn't mean you're a nerd but with actions, not words"Kai: "So... it's like charades but with riddles!? Why didn't I think of that game!?"Reeve: "How many will there be?" "Three." Reeve laughs amusingly "That rhymed!"Reeve pointed out. "Hence the point," said Adam. Reeve folds his arm and says "Shut up, Adam!".

"The time limit is a minute"the voice rhymed. All of them make dreadful faces, a minute is not enough for them. "Just one minute?!" said Kai. "If you are not clever then you will stay here forever!"

"We got this guys, we can't lose just yet!"Adam says. Kai and Adam exchange smiles. Kai rubs the back of his neck "I guess that makes me feel better". Adam has pepped up Reeve "What Adam said! This stupid game has nothing on me!" exclaimed Reeve. Adam smiles at Reeve "Nice of you to start thinking positive, Reeve!" but Reeve turns away.

A timer appears in front of them, on a wall. "What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?"

"My heart?"Kai guessed. Reeve raises an eyebrow "You want us to rip out your heart and break it?" he asked. Adam nods his head "Yeah and besides, it's something we can't touch" he said agreeing with Reeve. Kai defends his statement still believing that he is right "Sentimentally not physically". Kai points at Reeve "Like the time where you promised that you and your team will help me find my friends!". Reeve rejects his statement "I never promised you that!".

"Correct".

Adam "Wait! Kai was right!?". Kai feels proud of himself but then Reeve says "No, I think the answer was promise".

Kai starts to giggle "Oh! Now I get it!". Adam pats Kai on the back "Nice work Kai" while Reeve narrowed his eyes at them and crossed his arms expecting them to notice his hurt feelings. He got tired of waiting so with a sour expression he said "Hey! I helped too!". Adam sarcastically clapped to Reeve's statement, this made Reeve feel a little insecure just wanted to feel noticed "Just saying because you guys act like I don't even exist". Kai nods his head in approval "Reeve is right, he should be supported when he is the one who solved the riddle". Reeve smiled at Kai, he barely feels acknowledge in his life "Thanks Kai". Adam thinks that they are wasting time "It really doesn't matter, let's just go on to the next riddle" he said.

The voice carried on to the next riddle and said with a voice full of wisdom "I can speak all the languages of the world. What am I?". They all start to think and Adam says that it is hard and Reeve agrees with him but the Kai suddenly starts to giggle to himself. Adam and Reeve notice this and wonder what he is giggling to himself about. Adam asked him "What is it, Kai?". Kai's giggle turns into a laugh. Reeve crosses his arms and rolls his eyes "JUST SAY IT" he yelled. Kai stops laughing gestures him to cool down "Okay! Okay! Even though it is super obvious". Reeve and Adam seeing that the timer has 40 seconds left, both yelled at him "JUST SAY IT". Kai feels like they should know by now "A person who speaks all languages, jeez" says Kai. Reeve and Adam look at each other while Kai looks like he is so proud of himself "Don't need to thank me" he said. Reeve face palms and says "Umm... Kai... WHERE ARE WE GOING TO FIND THAT!?" he yelled. He actually didn't think about that. "Kai, it is definitely not that..." said Adam.

Seconds go by as they try to look for an answer all of them stroking their chins like it would help them think. Adam exclaimed "I know!" raising his finger up, "What?" asked Reeve. "Body language," Adam said while gesturing a lot with his hands. Reeve is so done with Adam while Kai is ecstatic about his idea "That's got to be it!". Adam waves at Kai and Kai waves back. They swish around in random, awkward gestures with the fervor of a fall breeze.

Reeve yells "That is not it! The voice said "speak" not "do". Adam walks closer to Reeve and says "Well at least I'm trying!" and the points directly to him "Unlike you." Reeve laughs and walks closer enough to him that they are face to face. Reeve looks at him right in the eyes with his cheeky smile "No you're not Adam. You're failing!" Adam was so distracted by how close Reeve that he didn't process what he just said to him so he thought that he said "Did you just called me a failure!?". Reeve crosses his arm and gives him a smug smile "Yeah, what are you going to do about it".

Kai called Reeve out on this because he doesn't want this fight to go how he is predicting it "That's not what you sa-". Reeve cuts Kai off with a loud laugh. Adam furrows his eyebrows and squints his eyes to stop him from crying "Why would you say that?".

Reeve curls his lip angrily at Adam, raising his chin aggressively. "Because you are the one who got us in this mess! In fact, this would have never happened if we did what I said."

Adam tilts his head sideways and folds his arms "Like I said HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!?". Reeves looks at Kai "What I was going to say before someone interrupted me..." then looks at Kai with directly. "Was that I am better than you!" Kai's jaw drops by hearing those words while Adam rolls his eyes and gets a little agitated, "You always think you're better than me!"

"Because I am!"

Adam scoffs. "You're not better than me!"

"You're not better than me!"

Reeve starts to list all the things he thinks he is better at "I am a better leader, better gamer, better fighter-".

"Let's see about that!" snaps Adam, as he pushes Reeve to the floor and gets on top of him to start punching him in the stomach. Reeve painfully urged out an "ow", he then knees him to his stomach, and Adam groans in pain. While trying to recover, Reeve pushes Adam to the floor and ends up on top of him giving him the same medicine he did to him but even harder.

Kai predicted that this would happen, he looks up to see how much time they have left and sees that there are only 10 seconds left so there is no time to waste "Umm guys...?" Kai's words seem to go through them, as they continue fighting like brainless animals.

Kai looks at the timer again and sees that it is decreasing in numbers. "Stop it guys!" he reaches down and tries to separate them but it is like they are glued to each other and he gets bruises in the process.

Kai screams even louder "Stop!". They both stop to just stare at Kai and the continue to fight. Kai has had enough, he doesn't want to get stuck here forever with these goons, the thought of it makes him shiver. He has to stop this. "Stop it right now!" He echoes loudly.

The room goes silent. They both stare at him.

"Correct."

Adam and Reeve both stood up and brushed the dust off their clothes. Reeve quickly turned to Adam and points an accusing finger at him. "This isn't over! No matter what! I will prove that I am better than you at something."

Adam laughs at Reeve making Reeve feel insulted "What are you laughing at!" Adam shakes his head "Like that's possible," Kai breaks into their conversation "Guys! Let's not focus on that, instead, let's focus on the next riddle!"

The voice that sounds like how you would imagine how an owl would speak like says the last riddle "What do the "x" marks signify in "xoxo"?".Both Reeve and Adam's faces are in such horror as they have just seen someone get butchered in front of their eyes. Kai snorts "Ha-ha! Isn't that obvious, ki-" his smile quickly turns upside down. Nobody says anything in that moment they all just went into their thought trying to find solutions, it just had to be the "x"!. Although this may be the easiest riddle to solve it won't be the easiest to do in their case. Adam paced around the small room and then stopped and realized that there is no other solution, he pinches his nose bridge in frustration "No way! I can't do that".

Reeve folds his arms and nods "I don't want to either...". Kai in disgust agrees with the rest "You can say that again". They all turn to see that there are 50 seconds left in the timer. Reeve shrugs "Well, somebody has to do it". Adam takes a look at the timer again and sees that there are 40 seconds left "We don't have that much time" Adam said while he turns to face the both of them meanwhile Kai is biting his nails and Reeve is trying not to face Adam's way. The timer then goes to 30 seconds left and this makes Adam panics so like a leader he says "We are running out of time! Guys right now our dignity doesn't matter, nobody needs to know about this. So please, Reeve kiss Kai. Kai stops biting his nails and faces to Adam's way, he can't believe he has the audacity to say that to him, Kai doesn't even want to be a part of this situation so Adam saying that makes him outraged "WHAAAT, he says furiously "Are you out of your mind!?" Reeve finally turns to face him. "How dare you!?" Kai exclaims. Adam doesn't understand the hold-up, he shrugs his shoulder "Well he doesn't want to kiss me", Kai gasps and yells out "I don't want to kiss either of you!" Reeve looks at the timer and quickly turns away from it.

Reeve puts his hands on his hips "Kai, you're a wimp".

Kai raised his eyebrows and then furrows them "What, I'm not a wimp!".

"Wimp!" he laughs and gives his shoulder a hard nudge.

Kai grabbed his shoulder "I am not a wimp!" he stomped at the ground

Adam rolled his eyes "Ugh Reeve! Leave Kai alone!" he folded his arms.

Reeve looks at Adam and quickly turned away "If you weren't, you would have already kissed Adam."

"Stop it!" yelled Kai.

Reeve snickers "See you're a wimp. You care too much about your masculinity" he says, signaling quotation marks.

"You know that men that try to prove that they are straight are most likely gay," Reeve said.

"Shut up!" he covered his ears.

Kai's gaze quickly turns to Adam as he puts his hands on his hips "Adam you're gay so you should kiss Reeve"

"What does that get to do with anything, I hate him!" yells Adam.

Reeve gasps and nods quickly "Yeah me too but we have to because Kai is too much of a wimp"

"Enough Reeve!" he screamed and ran to sit down in a corner far away from them.

Reeve sighed "I guess this leaves us no choice Adam".

Adam facepalmed "Why does it have to be you!"

"Hey, do you rather kiss or stay here forever," Reeve said while tapping his feet

"I really don't want to do this"

Reeve laughs like a maniac "What!? Does your breath stink!"

"What, no!" he crossed his arms.

"Then what are you afraid of? Wait don't tell me. You suck at kissing. I should have known!"

"I am not a bad kisser."

"Is that what your hand says" Reeve teased.

"Umm no!" he put one hand on his hip.

"Well if you are that would be kind of embarrassing considering I am a pro"

"Believe me at kissing there is nobody better than me"

"Let's make a bet to end all bets on who is better"

"Okay, whoever wins has to admit that the other one is better than them"

"Okay, lousy kisser!"

Kai facepalms "This is so childish" he whispered.

"I am not and I will prove it to you!" said Adam while raising a finger at him.

"Do it then" he provoked.

Adam's lips smashed into his lips giving it his all, Reeve's melting into him but then Adam quickly pulls away leaving them both to stare deeply into each other's eyes while they both pant.

"Correct".

Reeve grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, pressed his lips into his, kissing him as his life depended on it, he tastes like honey. Reeve gripped on to his hair pulling him even closer. Adam froze with wide eyes as his eyebrows raised; Even though they fought together even back then he still remembers the days where they used to play games together with Mira and how all that ended downhill when Reeve overhead him and Mira talking about replacing him although they would never do that to him even though in the end they did. Adam opened his eyes to see Kai with a splayed hand covering his eyes as soon as Kai noticed him staring at him he closed his eyes as he slips his tongue inside Reeve's mouth. They both hear their heartbeats as they melt into each other letting out moans. It is nothing like they ever experienced, it felt like they were floating, Adam opened his eyes to see that they were actually floating! He screamed and held Reeve tightly, he laughed and slowly lowered them onto the ground.

Adam waggled his eyebrows "Not bad" he said.

"Yeah that wasn't too bad," said Reeve as he nudges Adam. They both smiled at each other like a bunch of goons.

Reeve and Adam turned to face Kai "Who was better!?"

Kai quickly stood up "Neither of you! That was gross!!!" and runs out the door.

Reeve and Adam both laughed.


	2. A FRESH START

The sound of sizzling, the aroma of grilled burgers filling the atmosphere, the warmth of the summer heat, and the refreshing taste of iced lemonade. This is the life, Kai thinks to himself. No drama, nobody trying to kill him, he is now at home, or is he?

Kai looks to his side to see Vanessa staring sadly at her burger. He gives her a reassuring pat on the back.

"Skeet liked burgers."

"Well, he's eating one with us in the real world." he says with a smile.

She returns the smile.

Adam taps his glass of lemonade several times with a fork, and raises his glass into the air.

"A toast to friends, old and new and to our life here."

"It may not be what we expected," Mira says.

"But it's ours...?" Kai says unsurely, looking to his digital friends, trying his best to picture them as real people but he can't even remember how they looked like.

One of Mira's dads raises an eyebrow. "That's a really weird toast."

She lets out a sigh of relief. "Good thing we're here to enjoy it."

Reeve nods. "Yeah, we almost didn't make it."

Adam wipes sweat off with the back of his hand. "The riddles were the toughest."

Kai and Reeve nod their heads.

The girls look at each other with wide eyes.

"What!?" they both exclaim in unison.

"That was the easy part," Mira says, then taking a sip of her lemonade.

Kai points at them, taken aback. "You guys got the riddles too!?"

Vanessa chuckles. "Yeah, how else would we have found you?"

Kai's eyes fly open. "Oh... Wait a minute! Does that mean that you two..."

Vanessa looks puzzled, unsure of what he's trying to imply.

"Had to kiss?" he finishes, standing up and slamming his hands on the table.

Vanessa crosses her arms. "No. What are you talking about?"

"He's talking about the riddle where you have to act out 'XOXO.'" Adam says before face palming at the memory.

Mira stifles a laugh, hand flying over her mouth.

"Does that mean that you guys kissed!?" she cackles, tone laced with disbelief.

Vanessa starts to laugh with her, not supressing it at all.

"Who kissed who?" asks Mira teasingly, laughter growing louder as soon as the question leaves her mouth.

"Oh, don't tell me. Adam and Kai, or Reeve and Kai?" Mira tries to say through her laughter.

She pictures it in her head and starts to laugh even harder like a maniac.

"No, actually it was me and Reeve," Adam says bluntly.

Vanessa and Mira freeze in shock, before starting to laugh even harder than they were before, as if that's even possible; causing their faces to hurt and their stomachs to churn.

"My boyfriend."

The two goofballs finally stop and gasp.

Kai falls back into his seat, slumped with shock. He's somewhat outraged at this, since not so long ago they hated each other, and now they're dating!?

He moves his head to look at Reeve, finding that he looks proud.

"When did this happen?" asks Mira.

Kai glances over to see that Reeve and Adam's hands are connected, intertwined with one another.

"Well, we may have our differences, but after the riddle I realized that I love him." says Adam, looking into Reeve's eyes as he looks back.

"I'm proud of you two," Vanessa says, smiling supportively.

"Yeah, I'm proud too. I always wanted you two to finally be friends but look at you guys now!" she smiles with glee.

As if on cue, they all look at Kai.

Silence fills the air.

"Uh, great! Congrats?" Kai's voice cracks.

Adam coughs. "So, you guys didn't get that riddle?"

"We did," Vanessa says.

He strokes his chin with thought. "So you guys did kiss."

She rose an arm, displaying her palm, "I kissed my own hand."

The boys' jaws practically drop to their feet. All that trouble they went through was for nothing.

"What!?" Kai cries out, standing up from the table abruptly. "That's not fair!"

The shock Reeve and Adam conveyed at first melts away into amusement. They both chuckle.

"Of course," Adam says.

"It was that easy, huh." Reeve casually takes a bite out of his burger.

"You guys don't care!" he whines in protest, waving his arms around like one of those flailing tube things at a car wash.

They shrug, earning a scoff from Kai.

"Have you decided what school you want to go to?" asks Mira's dad suddenly.

Mira almost chokes on her food. "I totally forgot about that."

Vanessa face palms. "Me too..."

"Actually, me and Reeve are going to the same school." Adam says cheerfully.

"Actually, me and Reeve are going to the same schoo-" Kai mocks in an exaggerated, childish tone but beneath his breath so no one would notice - but Adam turns his way to look at him and he instantly stops.

"Do you know what school you're going to, Kai?" he asks.

"Oh, actually... I'm home-schooled." he meekly says.

"You should all come to our school! It'd be fun." Adam beams.

"Come on, it would be fun." Reeve adds.

Vanessa thinks to herself for a moment. "Okay. I wouldn't want to split up the team."

Mira glances at Vanessa, before a smile with a certain sureness reaches her face. "If Vanessa is going, then so am I."

Reeve smiles, seemingly happy that they were all going to the same school.

"I think it'd be better if we could all be together in the same school..." Adam says, before looking at Kai expectantly. "Kai? It'd be fun!"

His eyes drop to his food. "I'll think about it." he says, looking over at him.

The rest of the evening mostly consisted of recalling their adventures and experiences, be it saddening, shocking or amusing ones. At the end of the day, they're just glad they made it through and are alive to laugh about it now.

Once they've finished their meals, they start cleaning up and going home.

Vanessa is the first to go home, waving at everyone as she leaves. "Bye!"

The group waves at her casually, except for Kai.

Kai frantically waves at her like a child on Christmas day. "Bye, Vanessa!" he shouts to her excitedly, wide grin etched into his face.

Reeve kisses Adam goodbye, and fortunately says goodbye to Mira and Kai. "Take it easy, you two."

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" Kai exclaims to the couple as he himself starts leaving the scene.

He starts making his way to the town since he plans on getting a snack before he goes home, but someone stops him by grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Oh, my gosh! You scared me!" he yelps, turning to see that it's just Adam.

"Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you."

He internally panics at this - first worry being that Adam noticed how he's been acting.

Kai nervously plays with his hands. "About what?"

"I really want you to go to the school." he admits.

Phew.

"I don't know..."

Adam starts to get a little frustrated, eyebrows furrowing. "Well, why not?"

Kai rubs at his nape, eyes moving elsewhere. "I dunno. I guess I'm just a little scared... I've never gone to a public school before."

"Don't be scared! Believe me, it's a really good school." he says with a reassuring smile. "The teachers are really nice and so are the students, and if anything happens, I will be with you."

He thinks for a moment, before looking up at Adam with a small smile. "Okay."

"Really!? You won't regret it!"

He gives Kai a bright smile, but as he leaves his hand brushes against his forearm.

Days have passed by since the group hung out at Mira's, but today is finally the day where Kai asks his dad the question.

Kai dials his father's number.

"You know you can't call me while I am at work."

"I know Daddy, but it's important."

His father sighs from the other line. "What is it?"

"...Can I please go to a public school?" he finally asks, closing his eyes as if preparing for impact.

"What?" Kai can hear the utter disbelief and disapproval in his voice. "Do you know how many people would kill to have your kind of education?"

He winces. "I know... but..."

"You can't go."

A gasp escapes Kai's throat, heart dropping at those stern words. "But, I want to socialize and have friends!" he stresses, desperate to just hear him say 'yes' for once.

"I have to go; can we talk later?"

"Dad!" he urges.

"Complain to your mother."

As soon as those words left his father's mouth, all he hears from the phone is blaring, excessive beeping. Kai's phone drops to the floor as he rushes to his bed to sob into his pillow, clutching it close as he releases his emotions.

Davis, his butler swoops into the room to console him.

He rubs soothing circles into his back. "He never lets me do what I want!" Kai weeps, struggling to speak through his own uncontrollable sobbing.

"I'm sorry, sir. He only does what is best for you."

"As if!"

Davis lets out a sigh. "May I ask why you even wish to go, sir?"

Kai lifts his face up to wipe his tears with a sleeve. "To be with my friends!"

Davis raises a brow. "Be honest with me, sir. It's a girl, isn't it?" he suggests, bringing a thoughtful knuckle to his chin.

"Of course not!"

Davis' eyes widen with surprise.

"It's not a boy either." he says, face suddenly warm as he turns away.

"You know, he wouldn't have a problem with you going to public school..."

Kai turns back to him expectantly with a sniffle, curious to how he would finish his sentence.

"...if you still did home-school."

They both grin widely at each other.

Now Kai is starting his first day of school, his stomach is sinking like the Titanic did in 1912 but he feels a lot of better knowing that Adam will be taking care of him. He can't wait to meet everybody!

He opens the school doors, walking inside albeit a little nervously. His eyes wander in search of his friends but only land on the eyes of strangers, making him feel out of place.

Before he crumbles beneath the eyes of probably judgemental teenagers, he spots his friends. He runs towards them with a grin, waving at them excitedly only to see that Reeve and Adam are holding hands.

The conversation between the group gets cut too soon though since everyone has to leave to their respective classes. Reeve, Adam and Vanessa leave together, since the three of them are Sophomores.

Kai and Mira walk off to the opposite direction of them. Kai looks back at them, seeing the three talking and laughing.

"Our class is this way, follow me!" calls out Mira.

She leads him to their classroom.

Kai actually finds himself enjoying the class, since it's way easier than home-school. The bell rings, Kai tilts his head quizzically, looking at students leaving. Not knowing what to do, he looks to his side to see what Mira is doing.

She's not at her desk. Kai starts to shake, panicked. This means that he's all alone and he knows nobody here. He rushes outside, looking side to side.

Still no sight of her.

Kai doesn't remember how long has it been since he started looking for his friends. The more he walks, the more people he sees that has a friend by their side and the more he feels like he is walking into darkness.

But the darkness soon starts to light up when he sees Adam...

with Reeve by the lockers.

Kai grins excitedly, running towards them.

"Hi!"

Reeve smiles. "Hey!"

"Hi, Kai! How's it going?" says Adam in a friendly manner.

"It's going really good!"

Adam smiles casually. "That's good."

Reeve places a hand on Adam's shoulder. "Babe..." he says in a low, gravelly tone.

Kai's upper lip curls with disgust.

"...I didn't get the homework the teacher gave us."

"Oh, that's easy. I can help you."

"Thanks, baby."

Reeve shoves Adam against the locker, pinning him against it as he crashes his lips onto Adam's. Before Kai could comprehend it, they start making out.

Kai crosses his arms, he doesn't like the feeling of a being a third wheel and the dent in his gut.

Out of nowhere he hears an, "ew" nearing where they were.

Making him feel so much better, he lets out a laugh.

Adam pulls away, "Hey, who sai-"

Adam gasps and the bullies' eyes widen. Three teenagers stand before them; one blond with long, sleek hair and a raggedy moss green hoodie; another with mocha skin and short jet black hair hiding under a gray beanie. Finally, the boy in the middle wore a baggy red shirt and had chestnut brown hair.

"Wait, is that dumb dumb A-dumb?"

Adam freezes in place, pale and still like a Greek statue.

The trio laugh hysterically at them, pointing like they're still a bunch of kids.

Adam feels like he just found out an asteroid was going to hit the Earth. He may have faced his fear, but that was them as kids. This is them as teenagers.

"Okay, that's enough! Leave my boyfriend alone!"

They laugh even harder at that.

The brunet wipes a tear. "I can't believe it! So, the rumors were true!"

"What rumors?" Reeve asks in a snappy tone, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know what, I don't even care."

He uses his telekinesis to sweep the boys off their feet, and slams them onto the ground far from him and Adam. Panic consumes their smug faces as they stagger to get off the floor.

The freckled brunet is the first to get up, breath sharp and voice panicked. "How you did that you freak of nature!"

The rest scramble to their feet and run off in fear, while the brunet gives one last glare and catches up with the others.

Adam looks at his boyfriend, outraged. "Reeve!"

Reeve smirks smugly, casually shrugging his shoulders. "You don't have to thank me."

"You can't use your powers in public," Adam tells him sternly. "Remember we are in the real world where nobody has any knowledge of powers even existing."

Reeve rolls his eyes. "Whatever, nobody else was here."

"But you still can't do that! I know you were just trying to protect me, but it's still wrong."

"You know what's really wrong?" Reeve tries, turning to Kai and pointing an accusing, harsh finger at him. "He laughed when one of them went 'ew' at us."

"No I didn't!" Kai squeaks, fidgeting under the sudden confrontation.

"That was you, Kai!?" Adam snaps, turning to his friend with a scowl. He shakes his head with disappointment. "Go hang out with Vanessa or Mira or something, I don't know-- just leave."

"Or your bully friends," Reeve adds condescendingly.

"I don't even know them! I don't know where Mira and Vanessa are, either!"

Reeve scoffs. "Then find them!"

Kai forces down a sob, vision blurring with tears as he leaves. He peers over his shoulder to see them whispering among themselves, glancing at Kai with narrowed eyes every so often.

I should have never come to public school, I should have just stayed in online school.

He runs off, away from Reeve and Adam and to the closest bathroom he could find. He bursts through the door and makes a beeline to the last stall; rushing inside the stall. As soon as he finds himself alone, he lets the tears fall. At first the tears are somewhat minor and the only noises he's making are sniffles, but soon he's overwhelmed with emotions and starts full-on sobbing as he recalls the look Adam gave him.

He opens the stall door, having already cried himself out, only to be met with the three surprised faces from before.

The brunet in a baggy T-shirt looks at him, concerned. "Woah! Are you alright?"

"Wait, aren't you the one with Adam?" the long haired blond asks, raising a brow.

"Oh yeah, you're right." the one in a beanie says.

Kai hiccups and wipes his flushed face. "Ugh, just leave me alone."

"You can't go out looking like that!" the freckled boy exclaims, pointing a finger at his messy appearance.

"Yeah, how embarrassing!"

The one from before looks him up and down, concern evident on his features. "What even happened to you?"

Kai glares at the trio with puffy eyes, wanting to be mad at them since they were the ones at fault for what happened, but looks away with sadness once reminded of what happened.

The brunet from before sighs. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me... but to not look like, what you look like, just put some water under your eyes."

"Why are you guys even helping me?"

A moment of silence passes, causing Kai to look up from the bathroom floor.

"To tell you the truth, it's because the principal doesn't believe me when I tell her about the powers, so maybe another witness would help. But also because we feel bad for you."

"Okay? Thanks." Kai murmurs in response, slightly caught off guard that the bullies had some sort of heart in them.

He perks up. "So, would you-"

"No."

The brunet's expectant smile drops into an annoyed frown. "Okay, never mind."

Once the three have left, he walks over to the sink to try what the brunet offered him. He turns on the faucet and splashes water over his face and under his eyes. He rips a paper towel off from the dispenser and dries himself, looking into the mirror to see that it had worked. Now that he looks presentable, he leaves and tries to find the girls.

He finds them sitting on the bench and decides to sit with them, walking over.

"Oh, hey, Kai." Vanessa says, flashing him a friendly smile before he sits down beside her.

Mira looks over at him, smiling. "How was your first day of school, Kai?"

"I love it!" he painfully forces out, pushing his lips up into a fake smile.

"You'll start to hate it eventually."

"Vanessa!" Mira giggles, playful glint in her eye.

Kai laughs a bit too hard at that and playfully smacks Vanessa's shoulder.

"Um, so, Kai... Can you come back in about 5 minutes?" Mira asks him reluctantly.

Kai arches a brow suspiciously. "Okay..."

Every day was like that for a week, hoping that the next day would be better but it never was. Now he's considering going back to home school, but he really wants to have a fun time with his friends and fix what happened, and today is that day.

He walks into school, breezing through all his classes and leaving to talk to Mira and Vanessa once it's recess. He finds them sitting and talking on a bench like they always are, and approaches them.

"Hi Mira," he says, looking between the two with a polite smile. "Hi Vanessa."

Mira is the first to speak up, smiling brightly at him. "Oh, hi Kai!"

Vanessa follows suit. "Hey!"

"Can I sit with you guys?"

Mira scoots to the side, making space for Kai in the middle beside Vanessa.

"Of course," she says, glancing at Vanessa.

"What's up?" Vanessa says coolly, straightening her back.

"I have to tell you guys something."

Mira and Vanessa turn to look at each other.

"Kai, can you give us a moment?" Vanessa asks.

"No!" Kai bursts, standing up abruptly. "Not this time! This is exactly what I want to talk about!"

Mira looks worried. "What do you mean?"

"It's just, I feel left out... like you two always tell me to leave, and then I'm all by myself," Kai admits glumly, rubbing his arm and looking to the side. Although his tone grows bitter as he says his next words. "And Reeve and Adam, all they do is kiss and be all lovey dovey! They barely even talk to me!" he sighs, "But that was better than not talking to me at all..."

"Kai, I'm so sorry." Mira says, looking up at him with concern written all over her features.

Vanessa appears the same way, standing up from the bench to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Me too! I feel terrible."

Mira stands up also. "We will never make you feel like that again. We should've known."

Vanessa lets her hand fall to the side, crossing her arms. "You should also tell Reeve and Adam."

"Can't you two do it?"

Mira looks at him knowingly. "Kai."

Kai heaves a sigh.

Vanessa quirks a brow. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah..." Kai reluctantly admits.

"What happened?" Mira questions, curiosity peaked.

"Well... Reeve got angry at me for nothing! And then Adam got mad too!"

"For nothing? It must have been something."

"Yeah..." says Vanessa.

"Fine, I'll tell you!" he groans, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "So, I was hanging out with Adam and Reeve and then they were, uh, kissing and then out of nowhere, the bullies saw them!"

"His bullies?" Vanessa inquires.

"You mean his childhood bullies? How is that possible?"

"Yeah, and one of them said ew, and..." Kai trails off, clearly scared of being judged for his actions before he whispers, "I laughed... But Reeve noticed and told Adam!" he quickly adds, outraged as if he wants to chase Reeve out of town holding a pitchfork.

"You what?" Mira blurts, jaw dropping with disbelief.

Vanessa looks utterly lost. "Laugh?"

"Yeah... So what?"

Mira sighs. "Kai, you have to apologize."

"I do?"

"Well, yeah!" she huffs, baffled.

"But they were mean to me!"

"How come?"

Kai frowns, looking off to the ground. "They told me to hang out with somebody else."

"Kai... they probably had hurt feelings." Mira says.

He meets her considerate eye, glancing back to the floor with thought before meeting her gaze once again. A sigh leaves him. "You're right... I'm the mean one, I probably did hurt their feelings."

A smile grazes Mira's lips. "I am glad you understand."

"And we promise we won't make you feel left out ever again." Vanessa adds with a guilty look.

The bell rings obnoxiously from afar.

Mira turns her heel and waves at Vanessa. "We have to go, bye Vanessa! See you later."

"Bye, Vanessa!" Kai exclaims, waving at her as he and Mira walk away and head to class.

Just like any other, class was a breeze. Once it was over, the teacher makes everyone line up in front of the school entrance so they can go home.

Kai happens to be behind Mira.

"Psst, Kai," she whispers to him.

"What?" Kai whispers back.

"Adam's and Reeve's class are having a pop quiz and it looks like everyone is done, but Adam hasn't come out yet."

"How do you know that?!" Kai asks with disbelief and almost concern.

"Because Vanessa told me, but that's besides the point. Go and apologize!" she urges him impatiently.

"Oh." he lets out.

Mira starts up a conversation with the teacher, drawing attention to herself and away from Kai. He takes an opportunity to slip out of the line and makes himself out to be a Junior, even though there's no way in hell he looks like one.

He bolts to Adam's classroom and peeks over the doorway, seeing that no teachers are in here.

He swiftly goes inside.

He spots Adam sitting at his desk, biting on his pencil while staring hard at the pop quiz.

Feeling the presence of someone, Adam pipes up. "I am almost done, Ms..." he looks up to his surprise to see that it's Kai.

"Kai, what are you doing here?" he exclaims, astonished that Kai went out of his way to come to his classroom.

Kai fumbles with the hem of his shirt. "Where's the teacher?"

"She said that she needed to get some copies and- never mind, why are you here!?" he fumes, glaring angrily at Kai as he slams his pencil down.

"That doesn't matter, you need to finish your quiz." Kai says, flashing a smile. "And I can help you."

Adam slaps a hand over his face, face oozing distress. "You..." He looks up from his palm, over at Kai with a risen brow of skepticism. "...help me?"

"Well, of course, because that's what frie-" Kai stops himself, disregarding the sentence with unsureness.

Adam shrugs. "Well, I guess I don't really have a choice."

"Okay, now scoot over!"

Adam reluctantly scoots over, giving Kai enough space to sit down beside him. Their sides are pressed against each other, elbows grazing against one another as Kai tries to get a good look at the worksheet.

"You know, you could have just gotten a chair from one of the other desks."

Kai flushes a light shade of red. "Yeah... but this is like, easier," he says while answering a few of Adam's questions for him, avoiding all eye contact.

"I guess..." Adam stops for a moment to look at him, narrowing his eyes with doubt. "Wait."

Kai looks up from the worksheet to answer him, before realizing the close proximity of their faces and swallowing silently. He tears his eyes away from Adam's dark ones, down at his lap.

"You're a freshman, how would you know the answers?"

He clicks his tongue. "Don't underestimate me."

Kai continues Adam's quiz, glaring at the paper as he writes each answer, slightly grouchy.

"Done!"

Adam's eyes widen. "That fast?"

"Yeah." he says flatly.

"Thank you, Kai, really." Adam says genuinely, smiling widely at him.

"No need to thank me." he says, bashfully scratching his cheek. "Besides, I came here for something else."

Adam raises a brow.

He takes a deep, steady breath. "I am so sorry, Adam! To you and to Reeve. What I did was really disrespectful and immature."

Adam looks down at the desk, pondering to himself before looking up at Kai with a pleasant smile.

"I really missed hanging out like this." he says sincerely.

Kai looks surprised, but smiles back at him. "Me too. I hope we can do this more often."

"We will."

"Really?" he asks cheerfully, bright smile widening into a grin.

Adam nods, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Even though I have a boyfriend, I still want to have time for friends. Hey, maybe you can tutor me!"

The two chuckle.

"I'm glad we're friends again." Kai says contently.

"No matter what boyfriend I have, you will always be my best friend."

Kai makes a face. He doesn't like the sound of that, always being his friend and implying he'll have more boyfriends in the future. He wonders if he kissed Adam during that riddle if they would be in a relationship right now.

With the little amount of space that they have between each other, Kai tilts his head and glimpses at Adam's lips and then tilts it again; but he sees that Adam is looking straight at him, he does the same. He leans forward and closes his eyes.


End file.
